This seems a weird thing to worry about but I just got the DT2 and DN2 a few weeks back. I’ve been loving them. I have lots of Elektron Gear over the years but this strange thing happened to me.
I had the Digitone 2 on and moved it slightly closer to me and the power cord just came out. No big deal, plug it back in but I noticed something interesting. The plug doesn’t stay in so good and is easily pulled out. I checked the DT2 to see if that too had the same issue and it did but not as bad.
I checked the rest of my Elektron gear and the plugs stay in much better and require more force to remove them.
As simple as this seems it kind of bothers me. This means I have to make sure my equipment is situated properly or I could mistakenly disconnect the power cord. Does anyone else notice this or am I just being overly concerned.
I mean I hate to lose work, or fuck up a live set because I shift something around and boom end up pulling the power cord. Just seems the power connectors where much better on the older units.
this is an issue with mine too, any slight movement will disconnect it from the power supply (i also never had this issue with any other elektron device)
i was kind of hoping for diy solution bc i don’t want to have to send a second dn2 back to elektron
It might be possible to rig something with a similar goal which instead of the anchor hole uses double stick tape, but it’s not going to be as well secured, so it depends on exactly how loose the barrel jack feels to you right now.
I can think of a couple of different form factors to implement this which could do something similar if I were designing it myself, but mostly with the same basic retention concept which is to catch the larger sleeve of the PSU’s dc barrel jack and snug it up to the chassis of the digitakt by force.
you’re right, the (lack of) tightness of the metal tab on the bottom seems to be the issue
if i lightly tap the power supply input upwards from the bottom, the unit powers off
the build quality from the units now manufactured in poland seems a little, um, different (don’t kill me mods) compared to the ones that were from sweden
anyway i guess it’s time to send elektron another email
I wonder if this affects all units or only some. I find it interesting that it’s only coming up now if it affects DT2 also, which has been out for quite a while. I feel like loose power jacks are kind of a big deal for a device thats semi-portable, and I know it would bug me. Especially if power interruptions are happening.
Took a picture of the Syntakt jack for reference if anyone is confused about the tab /tongue described:
The tab is that yellowish part filling the plug hole under the center pin. You can see the wear pattern on it from my jack being plugged in, where it has a friction fit against the barrel of the jack.
I’ve had no issues at all with a loose jack on this one, it’s a perfect amount of “snugness” and no amount of movement or bumping to the jack causes a power cut. I don’t have the appropriate feeler gages here but the gap between the tongue and center pin on mine looks like a bit over 1mm, I’d guess less than 2mm.
This is not a recommendation to anyone, but I would think some gentle bending could snug the connection back up for a while. I haven’t looked at the internals but I’m guessing the jack is soldered directly to a board, which may complicate things.
I think it’s vital for people to let Elektron know, as it should be a straightforward adjustment either for their raw parts supply or for their assembly process. This should be easy to catch and correct on the manufacturing side.
Thankfully I’m not affected by this issue (yet - I may be buying before too long) but hope people who have issues can get a resolution soon.
EDIT: my main concern with bending it would be weakening the soft metal. Most metals get weaker when you bend them, especially thin sections like this. You could run into a situation where you fix the problem short term but make it worse in the long run. Do any work at your own risk
power adapter of my digitone2 disconnects too easily too, but adapter of digitakt2 is fine… I was very disappointed by this in first seconds after receiving digitone2… Not the quality that I expect for 1k€…
I’ve had the DC barrel replaced by Elektron for my OG DT for this. It was never tight to start with and become looser with time.
My Octatrack is starting to show similar signs. Might be due to me constantly disconnecting the power supply when moving the unit around.
elektron says that my unit will have to be sent to them for repair
i appreciate them addressing the issue – but this is the second digitone 2 i’ve received (directly from them) that’s physically defective, and they’re making me pay to have it shipped to their repair center (which will be around $100 to have it sent via ups, which is what they recommend)
am i being crazy? do you guys think i should say something to them about paying the shipping cost?
Sorry to hear. But your situation sounds worse than just a loose connection. I checked their warranty info and they do say this:
The customer is responsible for shipping charges if the device needs to be shipped to a certified Elektron repair center for warranty service. Elektron covers the return shipping to the customer during the warranty period.
I had to ship my Rytm Mk II recently and wasn’t that much so maybe you live far from the nearest repair center which is just unlucky I guess. But I think you will at least get a good connector :).
For my issue I dealt with my retailer since it was within the 30 day return policy and I didn’t have to pay for anything. However I’d like to report that the connector is only a tad bit more snug but still not great. I assume this is now the normal case unfortunatly. I’ll just deal with it because man the Digitone 2 is a monster.
If the DT2/DN2 barrel adaptor wobble grinds your gears, you’d go mad at the Access Virus. The adaptor on my TI2 falls out with so much as a look at it! And I specifically got a longer barrel adaptor to replace the OG one, which was even worse.
The internal pin? I’ve tried a few PSUs and both my Cycles/Samples have too much flex by the design of those teeny pins/connectors, I’d be up for a nicer coupling of both.
